Wicker review – Olivia Colman finds the perfect lover in intriguing folk-horror romance - 开云

Olivia Colman portrays a despondent, harassed fisherwoman in medieval England. Fortunately, Peter Dinklage’s basket-maker provides the solution to her wishes – an Alexander Skarsgård figure crafted from wicker.

The eerie essence of mystery author Shirley Jackson is intriguingly resurrected in this unusual folk-horror romance, based on a 2006 tale titled The Wicker Husband by British writer Ursula Wills. It teeters on the edge of humor without fully committing, and skirts the line of unease without crossing it, inhabiting a peculiar and captivating intersection between grim horror and sentimentality. However, fans of rustic British screen frights will recognize that, ultimately, it revolves around a wicker creation.

The setting is a fable-like medieval village, possibly in central Europe or England, characterized by bizarre patriarchal customs, such as placing metal collars on new brides. A despondent middle-aged fisherwoman (portrayed with fierce naturalism by Olivia Colman) resides alone in a remote cottage and regularly brings her unappetizing tench and gudgeon to market, where she faces ridicule and harassment from the nasty, insular locals, including Richard E Grant as a lazy, inept doctor. Her primary tormentor is the spiteful tailor’s wife, an elegant, sharp-featured woman played by Elizabeth Debicki.